Children's home run by Heathfield (Parkgate) Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 1 Registered provider: Heathfield (Parkgate) Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care for up to four children with learning disabilities. At the time of the inspection, there were four children living at the home.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 31 March 2022.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

Good

How well children and young people are helped and protected Good

p.1

Good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Requires improvement to be good

p.1

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

Good

Date of last inspection: 8 November 2022

p.1

Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/11/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from trusting relationships with committed staff. This provides children with a sense of belonging and stability, which enables them to make good progress. The inspector observed warm and nurturing interactions between children and staff. There was lots of play and laughter.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to engage in a range of activities. Each child has an activity plan that is tailored to their needs. Children enjoy spending time at clubs outside of the home, for example to enjoy music or arts and crafts. As a result, children’s social interaction skills and confidence improve when they come to stay.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children engage in regular and focused key-work sessions with passionate and knowledgeable staff. Children are helped to think about how to live together harmoniously. In one example, key-work sessions have helped to improve the self- esteem of a child. They previously had no friendship group and can now enjoy social opportunities with children from within and outside the home.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When staff spend time with children, they focus on helping them to achieve the goals that are important to them. A child who was previously unable to communicate verbally can now repeat the numbers one to ten.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Before children move into the home, the registered manager and leadership team carefully consider their needs alongside those of the children already living there. When children arrive, they are welcomed by a nurturing staff team and given thoughtful support to help them settle in.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers proactively advocate for children to ensure that they have the support they need from external agencies to meet their needs. Some children were not in an appropriate education placement when they first arrived. All children are now achieving well in education and have made good progress from their starting points.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Effective communication with children’s placing authorities contributes to good care planning. All children are supported to express their wishes and feelings at review meetings. Managers recognise that communication could be improved if placing authorities regularly received reports about children’s progress.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy spending time in the home. It is spacious and has the feel of a warm, family environment because children’s areas are personalised, particularly their bedrooms. However, the inspector noticed that one child’s bed and mattress were in a very poor state of repair, and a hole in their wall had not been repaired in a timely way. The manager took immediate steps to address these shortfalls once they were brought to their attention. Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 4

p.3

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The safety and well-being of children are priorities for all staff. Staff know the children well and are adept at noticing changes in children’s presentation and behaviour. They recognise that those changes may indicate that children need additional support. Consequently, the use of physical restraint is used only as a last resort to prevent children harming themselves or others.

p.4

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

When behavioural incidents occur, the registered manager carries out a thorough review with the children and staff involved to explore what happened and to look at ways to reduce the risk of further incidents occurring. As a result, incidents which require physical restraint have reduced, and one child has made significant progress in relation to being able to express themselves without getting angry.

p.4

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff are committed to maximising opportunities for children to spend time with their families and friends. Any associated risks are understood and managed well by staff. Children’s families are involved in care planning, which helps to promote continuity of care.

p.4

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

All staff have completed mandatory safeguarding training. As a result, staff are well- informed and stay alert to signs that children are at risk of harm. During the inspection, staff were able to confidently describe children’s strengths and vulnerabilities. Despite good care practice in relation to safeguarding, written risk assessments do not reliably inform staff how to keep children safe. This represents a risk that staff do not have the most up-to-date information to refer to if they need to.

p.4

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

One child arrived with a history of displaying self-harming behaviour when they were frustrated or distressed, but there have been no incidents since they have lived at the home. Staff have received training about how to manage self-harm incidents. However, during the inspection, they were unable to describe where they would go to access equipment they may need in the event of an emergency. Managers took steps to address this immediately.

p.4

How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

When safeguarding concerns arise, managers take swift and decisive action to ensure the safety of children. They seek advice from external professionals when necessary. Managers notify Ofsted as required when serious incidents occur. This enables the regulator to ensure that there has been a robust response.

p.4

good

The registered manager is fully involved in the children’s lives. She demonstrates a sound understanding of the children’s needs and has high aspirations for them.

p.4

good

The registered manager is a trusted figure for the children and for the staff. She enjoys carrying out direct work with children, and they appreciate her support. This has a negative effect on the quality of management monitoring and oversight of the Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 5 home. For example, not all staff receive regular supervision or annual appraisals. This means that staff do not have the opportunity to discuss practice-related concerns or their own development. Additionally, the workforce plan does not provide sufficient detail about the ongoing training needs of the staff team or changes to practice and systems which are required to improve the service.

p.4

good

Managers proactively recruit staff to fill vacant posts. Recent recruitment initiatives have been successful. When agency staff are employed to fill rota gaps, only agency staff who are familiar with the home are permitted to work there. This reduces the risk of children being looked after by staff who are unfamiliar with their specific needs.

p.5

good

New staff say that they feel well supported, and that their induction has equipped them to understand procedures and how to meet children’s needs in line with their care plans. However, the outcome of their probation period and any ongoing development needs are not formally recorded. As a result, records do not demonstrate how the registered manager is making sure that all staff are clear about their responsibilities.

p.5

good

Managers have sound awareness of the strengths and weaknesses of the home. They make good use of the independent person’s reports to inform service developments. As a result, there is a firm basis for improvements in the quality of management monitoring and oversight to be made. Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 6

p.5

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.6

Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child.

p.6

Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that risk assessments reliably inform staff how to keep children safe, and that staff to know how to access equipment needed to respond to incidents of self-harm.

p.6

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)) 31 October 2023

p.6

Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

p.6

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.6

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and

p.6

Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

p.6

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(h)) 31 October 2023 Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 7 This regulation applies to a child who is looked after by a local authority.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must comply with requests by the child’s placing authority to—

p.7

Requirement Due date

provide the placing authority with information relating to the child.

p.7

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 17 (1) (3)(a)) 31 October 2023

p.7

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.7

Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

p.7

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year.

p.7

Requirement Due date

(Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c)) 31 October 2023

p.7

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to their behaviour. Homes must also meet children’s basic day to day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which should detail the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery

p.7

Recommendations

of the homes Statement of Purpose. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 8

p.7

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Heathfield (Parkgate) Ltd

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Harrison Clark Rickerbys, 5 Deansway, Worcester WR1 2JG

p.9

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jacqueline Smeeth

p.9

Inspector

Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2667771 10 regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10